iPad Future of the iPad/Mac?

[vanilla_prison]

I’ve got some ideas and thoughts about iPad and iPadOS. I have owned an iPad since 2011, and now my M5 iPad Pro is my main device. I use it for work, gaming, entertainment, note-taking, personal finances, literally everything. There have been drastic changes to iPad over the last few years, and I want to see what other people think about the future.

First, let’s talk hardware.
Apple began sticking M series processors into iPads only 6 months after they first put them into Macs. Other variants such as the Pro, Max, and Ultra chips are obviously absent, so let’s look at MacBook Airs. They, like iPads, don’t have a fan. They are passively cooled and are able to run MacOS perfectly. There have been rumors of an A series Mac coming soon, which would mean that even A series chips are powerful enough to run a desktop operating system. Clearly, the iPad has enough computing power for a higher-class OS. I’m not saying they should just throw MacOS into it, but right now it’s like having a v12 in a Geo Metro.

Now, let’s look at software.
With iPadOS 26, Apple began adding true Mac-like features over such as windowing, taskbar, and better file management. On the MacOS side of things, you have the ability to run any iOS app. Design-wise, Everything is slowly starting to look more identical. Look at OSX Lion to MacOS 26 Tahoe and iOS6 to iOS 26. The Mac and it’s mobile counterparts have looked more and more like each other with every iteration. I set up my iPad and MBA to have the same background and apps on the dock, and I could barely tell a difference visually. Really, the only indicator was Finder instead of Files. That in itself isn’t very telling, I know, but hear me out.

Multiple OS? Perhaps not…
Apple has clearly said that they won’t put MacOS on the iPad. However, there are rumors of a touchscreen MBP with OLED coming later. It’s almost guaranteed that this type of model at least exists in some sort of R&D. What if they were telling the truth, and it isn’t MacOS that they had in mind for the iPad? I think that we are getting very close to a unified operating system across Apple devices, or at the very least the iPad and the Mac. Am I just a tinfoil hat-wearing maniac yelling at the clouds, or does this actually sound realistic? What kind of things do you predict to see in the next 5-10 years?

 

[Digitalguy]

I’ve got some ideas and thoughts about iPad and iPadOS. I have owned an iPad since 2011, and now my M5 iPad Pro is my main device. I use it for work, gaming, entertainment, note-taking, personal finances, literally everything. There have been drastic changes to iPad over the last few years, and I want to see what other people think about the future.

First, let’s talk hardware.
Apple began sticking M series processors into iPads only 6 months after they first put them into Macs. Other variants such as the Pro, Max, and Ultra chips are obviously absent, so let’s look at MacBook Airs. They, like iPads, don’t have a fan. They are passively cooled and are able to run MacOS perfectly. There have been rumors of an A series Mac coming soon, which would mean that even A series chips are powerful enough to run a desktop operating system. Clearly, the iPad has enough computing power for a higher-class OS. I’m not saying they should just throw MacOS into it, but right now it’s like having a v12 in a Geo Metro.

Of course M iPads are perfectly capable of a desktop OS. With enough RAM (16GB) even A12X/Z was running MacOS in 2020 (I say A12X because A12Z is just the unbinned version).

Not only natively, but even virtualized they would run great. I have a 16GB RAM M1 iPad pro running Windows 11 virtualized beautifully. But I have to leave it on iPadOS 15 since Apple removed hypervisor from iPadOS 16, probably because people were using a hacked version of UTM to run Windows on it.

Now, let’s look at software.
With iPadOS 26, Apple began adding true Mac-like features over such as windowing, taskbar, and better file management. On the MacOS side of things, you have the ability to run any iOS app. Design-wise, Everything is slowly starting to look more identical. Look at OSX Lion to MacOS 26 Tahoe and iOS6 to iOS 26. The Mac and it’s mobile counterparts have looked more and more like each other with every iteration. I set up my iPad and MBA to have the same background and apps on the dock, and I could barely tell a difference visually. Really, the only indicator was Finder instead of Files. That in itself isn’t very telling, I know, but hear me out.

Multiple OS? Perhaps not…
Apple has clearly said that they won’t put MacOS on the iPad. However, there are rumors of a touchscreen MBP with OLED coming later. It’s almost guaranteed that this type of model at least exists in some sort of R&D. What if they were telling the truth, and it isn’t MacOS that they had in mind for the iPad? I think that we are getting very close to a unified operating system across Apple devices, or at the very least the iPad and the Mac. Am I just a tinfoil hat-wearing maniac yelling at the clouds, or does this actually sound realistic? What kind of things do you predict to see in the next 5-10 years?

It's hard to tell. Gurmann recently said that Apple had been separating Macs from iPads to protect sales. But since iPad isn't doing well anyway, he said, they decided to make the Mac more iPad like, with touch and cellular. But he didn't say they are trying to make the iPad more Mac like. As much as iPadOS 26 is hyped, I don't believe it changes much. Pro users need pro apps, not a desktop like UI without the apps. If anything, removing the old multitasking has pissed off many users. I cannot do any more work on 26 than I could on 17 or 18. Because the apps I need are missing or dumbed down.

 

[TheRealAlex]

My iPad Pro has been my main “computer” for the last 5+ years. I have a Gaming PC Tower which I built myself 9800X3D and a 3080 Ti. But I play games a few times a week.

I don’t see the “tablet” going away.

 

[bigglow]

It's likely they keep them separate devices.

I personally wish that macOS on iPhone was possible. I'd be inclined to buy into a 512GB or 1TB iPhone if that were the case every 2 years.

 

[dumastudetto]

The future of Mac is iPad Pro.

 

[Darth Tulhu]

OK, so every so often, people bring up the Mac/iPad convergence.

It's. Not. Going. To. Happen.

The Mac and iPad and fundamentally different devices.

The iPad is touch-centric. No matter how many input methods Apple adds to it, the iPad is, and will remain, a tablet.

The Mac is keyboard-and-mouse. Period.

The cross-functionality we're seeing on each device is meant to be for our convenience and ease of use.

Think of it like this: a pickup truck and a car both have engines, go on the road, transport people, and do many other similar things.

But just because Apple added a backseat to the pickup and a roof rack and a tow hitch to the car does not transform one into the other.

It just makes the one vehicle more flexible. That is it, and that is all.

 

[Cheffy Dave]

The future of Mac is iPad Pro.

Wouldn’t bother me one bit. my M1,1 TB is perfection to me , wicked fast, just love it!

 

[Lounge vibes 05]

Nope.
The iPad will still run iPadOS, the Mac will still run macOS.
Apple bringing a touchscreen to the MacBook Pro is just that, them bringing a touchscreen to the MacBook Pro.
The same way that them bringing a keyboard and mouse to the iPad, didn’t change the fact that… It was an iPad, that just happened to have a keyboard and mouse attachment.
The touchscreen MacBook Pro will still run macOS, will still have Finder, a terminal, the ability to download DMGs… and will still have a full bottom case with a full keyboard and trackpad permanently attached.
The only difference is it will have a touchscreen, likely because it costs Apple pretty much nothing to implement, because it’s expected at this point, and because of accessibility benefits for those with disabilities who find interacting directly with an item easier for certain tasks.
But at the end of the day, the operating systems will remain the operating systems.
It is very likely however, that Apple continues adding Mac like functionality to the iPad, as just rumored today a bunch of their pro apps may be getting iPad versions. But they are still fundamentally different devices that just happened to have a lot of overlap.

 

[iPadified]

I stick my head out and dream a little: Something completely different but I am unsure Apple will deliver. We may see new a OS that is AI based from the ground up where interactions are normal text or voice or pointer or eye movements and there is no traditional computer interface. The OS and your specific work practices melt together where the OS does all the management and adapt to you. Customisation taken to the next level. A computer moving away from current paradigm (50+ years old). Surprise us! Anything else is hairsplitting.

I got a taste by describing, in plain English, the data set structure and the statistics I wanted to GPT-5 and soon after it compiled a python script and plotted the data far better than I (and Excel and many professional statistics apps). Now gives a whole OS that I can interaction with in plain English where OS and apps adapts to me and my needs without endless clicks and menus and other tedious procedures. "Fix this and don't bother me with the details"

 

[FrozenDarkness]

I think once the foldable ipad comes out, lit’ll solve the last remaining limitation for me which is jsut screen size. 12.9” is just not enough for me for serious work. The spacing and padding on the iPad is also more than the mac which exacerabates the problem.

 

[mozes2315]

I wouldn’t be surprised if the line between iPad and Mac keeps blurring, especially with rumored touch-enabled MacBooks and potentially a unified OS under the hood that adapts to input method.